322 



HISTORY OF DUCKS COUNTY. 



November g, 1797, Anna Amelia Van 

 Horn, born January 25. 1775, daughter of 



and Sarah (Mode) Van Horn, and 



settled in Upper Makefield township, 

 Bucks county, Pennsylvania, where he 

 became a large landowner. Anna Amelia 

 (Van Horn) Holcombe died 'March 12, 

 1833. He married (second) Elizabeth 

 Furman, nee Wildman, who survived 

 him. The ceremony was performed Oc- 

 tober 16. 1834. He died April 8, 1855. 

 The children of Samuel and Anna Ame- 

 lia (Van Horn) Holcombe are as fol- 

 lows: Sarah, born July 31, 1798, married 

 Samuel Ross. Mary, born December 14, 

 1799, married Benjamin Beans. Eliza- 

 beth, born May i, 1801. married William 

 Hibbs. John, born December 4, 1802, 

 see forward. Anna Amelia, born March 

 24, 1804, married David Phillips. Han- 

 nah, born April 6, 1806, married William 

 Martindale. Samuel, born August 2, 

 1807, died unmarried, 1870. Phebe, born 

 September 9, 1809, died March 11, 1831. 

 Matilda, , born April 25, 181 1, married 

 Carey Longshore. De Witt Clinton, 

 born October 23. 1812. died unmarried, 

 September 20, 1843. George, born 'May 

 31, 1815, married and had one son, Sam- 

 uel, and three daughters; he died July 

 24, 1844. One child was born to Sam- 

 uel and Elizabeth (Furman) Holcombe, 

 Phebe W., born October 12, 1837, mar- 

 ried Dr. Benjamin Collins. Samuel Hol- 

 combe was in early life a carpenter and 

 cabinet maker, but later in life followed 

 the life of a farmer. 



John Holcombe, son of Samuel and 

 Anna Amelia (Van Horn) Holcombe. 

 was born 12 mo. 4, 1802, and died in 

 Newtown 9 mo. 15, 1894, at the age of 

 ninety-one years. He was a farmer in 

 Upper Makefield until 1837, when he 

 purchased a farm in Newtown township. 

 He was a successful farmer and an ac- 

 tive and prominent man in the commun- 

 ity. He took an active part in the estab- 

 lishment of the public school system, 

 and an active interest in all that per- 

 tained to the best interests of the com- 

 munity. He was a member of Wrights- 

 town Friends' Meeting, and in politics 

 was an ardent Whig, and later a Re- 

 publican. His later years were spent 

 in Newtown borough. He married Eliza- 

 beth Hibbs, who bore him five children 

 of whom two survive: Oliver H., the 

 subject of this sketch, and Hannah E., 

 residing in Philadelphia. 



Oliver H. Holcombe was born in Up- 

 per Makefield township, November 7, 

 1830. He acquired his education at the 

 common schools and at a private school 

 conducted by Jeremiah Hayhurst, at 

 Kennett Square, Chester county, Penn- 

 sylvania. He married on March 22, 

 T855, Cynthia Scarborough, daughter of 

 John and Hannah (Reeder) Scarborough, 

 of Solebury, and began life as a farmer 

 on a farm rcccntl}^ purchased by his 

 father in Wrightstown township. A year 



later he removed to Newtown township 

 on a farm purchased by his father across 

 the road from the homestead, where he 

 lived for five years, and then took charge 

 of the homestead, where he lived for 

 thirty-four years, having acquired the 

 ownership of the homestead. In the 

 spring of 1895 he removed to Newtown, 

 and has since lived a retired life, pur- 

 chasing his present residence in Pineville, 

 and removing there in the spring of 

 1899. He has been a stockholder in the 

 First National Bank of Newtown since 

 its organization, and a member of the 

 board of directors since 1899. He was 

 one of the first to agitate the building 

 of the Philadelphia & Newtown Rail- 

 road, spent much time and money to that 

 end, and was elected one of the first di- 

 rectors of the completed road. He has 

 served several years as a school direc- 

 tor, and has filled other local positions. 

 He has been for many years active in the 

 cause of the Prohibition party; has been 

 its candidate for congress and other of- 

 fices; and in 1888 was a delegate to the 

 national convention of the party in In- 

 dianapolis. Mrs. Holcombe has also 

 been active in temperance work for many 

 years, being the first president of the 

 Bucks County Woman's Christian Tem- 

 peraoce Union, which was organized in 

 March, 1885, and under her efficient man- 

 agement about one thousand women 

 were enrolled as members. For more 

 than twenty-five years she has been a 

 monthly contributor to the Home De- 

 partment of the Farm Journal, of Phil- 

 adelphia, under the pseudonym of 

 "Mary Sidney," and her essays have 

 been copied into many papers and at- 

 tracted much attention. Mr. and Mrs. 

 Holcombe are both members and reg- 

 ular attendants of Wrightstown Monthly 

 Meeting of Friends, and for many years 

 have been elders. They are the parents 

 of two children: William P., now re- 

 siding in New Hampshire; and Anna, 

 wife of Edward R. Kirk, of Buckingham, 



AMANDUS HARTZELL COPE, one 

 of the progressive farmers of Richland Cen- 

 ter, son of Jacob and Julia (Hartzell) 

 Cope, was born April 17, 1852, on a. farm 

 then owned and operated by his father in 

 Richland township, near Richlandtown. 

 The property consisted of forty acres, and 

 was located on Applebachville road, near 

 the line of Haycock township. Jacob Cope 

 (father), son of Jacob and Julia Cope, was 

 born in Rockhill township, Bucks county. 

 He attended the subscription and public 

 schools of the neighborhood, after which he 

 served an apprenticeship at the trade of 

 cigarmaker, which he followed for some 

 time, and later turned his attention to farm- 

 ing. He married Julia Hartzell, of Rock- 

 hill township, and had issue: Euphemia, 

 who became the wife of Jacob Allum. a 



